RICHMOND, CA — The first big hurdle facing touring sound veteran John Griswold, who took on the role of production director/operation for Craneway Pavilion, was to deal with the industrial, earthquake-stricken venue’s acoustic challenges, including an “insane” reverb with an 11-second delay. The second was to shift from his personal preference for analog consoles to the venue’s need for digital. Allen & Heath’s iLive T made the second challenge far less significant than the first.
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Craneway Pavilion in San Francisco Chooses Allen & Heath iLive for Superb Sound
In a city renowned for its exceptional live sound venues, a surprising new contender has surfaced in San Francisco’s Craneway Pavilion. Located on the bay in north suburban Richmond, this unique structure offers breathtaking views of the city skyline, a concert capacity of 5,000, and state-of-the-art in-house production facilities that include two Allen & Heath iLive-T mixing consoles.
The consoles were specified by John Griswold, who has retired from a lengthy, star-studded career in touring sound to take the role of Production Director/Operation for Craneway Pavilion. “I was asked to consult on the venue’s design, which was a huge undertaking,” he notes. “The building had been badly damaged and tagged for demolition after the 1984 Loma Prieta earthquake. Fortunately, the government never funded that, and Orton Development bought the entire site and brought it back to life. It’s been a labor of love.”
Griswold’s assignment was to transform Craneway from its industrial roots into a modern multipurpose entertainment venue. To an experienced road dog like Griswold, that meant plenty of power, easy load-in and, of course, great sound. “The biggest challenge was the building’s reverb. When we started, it had an 11-second delay, which is just insane. So we invested a lot of resources into acoustical solutions to get that under control,” he recounts. “That brought the reverb time down to 1.5 seconds, which is much more manageable.”
With infrastructure installed, Griswold set about designing a premium sound system for symphonies and rock concerts, with the flexibility to handle business meetings, weddings, theatricals, sporting events and dinners. As a career analog guy, Griswold was determined to find a console that would be easy to learn, teach and use, yet with all the advantages inherent in a digital infrastructure.
“In all my years on tour, I always shied away from digital consoles,” he states. “I’ve always been an analog guy. But this building obviously needed a digital console, so I set out to find something would be easy to learn, teach and use, with all the advantages of digital. In doing my research, I heard about the iLive from the distributor, The Farm AV. They brought a T-112 in for a demo so I could see for myself.”
As a veteran mixer with credits go back to the 60s and include such artists as Billy Joel, Cher, Journey, the Eagles and Madonna, John Griswold quickly saw that the iLive-T was designed to have an analog feel, taking to it immediately. “The sound is great. The preamps sound good, and the library of effects on board are great,” he reports. But the best part was, within 30 minutes, I was finding my way around with no problem. The transition to digital was quicker and easier than I ever imagined.”
But the thing that really convinced the Craneway Pavilion that the iLive was the right console for them was its architecture, with a compact MixRack housing both the physical inputs and output along with all digital signal processing. The MixRack is connected to the console control surface by a single Cat5 cable.
“The iLive is a great fit for what we’re doing here. We’ve had them almost two years now, and we’ve had zero problems,” says Griswold. “With no copper snakes and no outboard gear, there’s nothing better out there for ease of setting up and moving. It’s also got a very small footprint, which means more floor space for events, which is also very important.” Craneway ordered two iLive T-112 surfaces, one with an iDR-48 MixRack and the other with an iDR-32.
As for the sound quality, Craneway Pavilion is quickly building a reputation as one of the best-sounding venues of its size in the San Francisco area. One of its most popular events is the annual July 3rd concert by the Oakland Symphony with accompanying fireworks. “The symphony’s engineer fell in love with the iLive the first day he was here. In fact, he almost walked out with it,” Griswold chuckles. “The marriage between the console and our Meyer PA system is like a match made in heaven. We’ve been getting spectacular reviews for audio.”
Of course, the bottom line is business, and Craneway’s unique location, upscale facilities and in-house production have found a receptive audience in the Bay Area community. “In addition to the great sound and great view of the skyline, we also have amenities like the BoilerHouse Restaurant, a deepwater ferry dock, and a one megawatt solar power plant,” Griswold points out, “which makes Craneway very attractive to event planners. Companies like Pixar and Apple have staged huge events here, because it’s unique, it’s historical, and it’s beautiful.”
Craneway Pavilion began its life in 1931 as an assembly plant for Ford Motor Company. During World War II, it was repurposed by the U.S. government for the production of tanks and jeeps. At that time, the plant was known as the home of Rosie The Riveter, the embodiment of women’s contribution to the war effort. The Albert Kahn-designed building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the redesign as a performance space earned it the National Trust for Historic Preservation design award in 2008. As a result, this 80-year old auto plant is now known as the “Jewel of the Bay.”
Over the past two years, John Griswold and Craneway AV system tech Lane Greenman have provided a wide range of visiting engineers their first experience on the iLive T-112. “We give them some instruction, help with the set-up, and they take right to it,” John reports. “For anyone coming off an analog board, this is the digital console you want to be on. Even the digital guys love it, especially with the bang for the buck it gives you. I’ll tell you, word is spreading in the audio industry. The iLive is a serious console.”
